"The Best Man," featuring the brilliant James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury. A revival of Gore Vidal's play about a contentious presidential election campaign, which originally ran on Broadway in 1960 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Play. At the Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St.

"Clybourne Park," the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Bruce Norris, directed by Pam McKinnon, which also won the Olivier Award for Best New Play, imagines the history of one of the more important houses in literary history, from Lorraine Hansberry's classic "A Raisin in the Sun." At the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 W. 48th St. For tickets, call 212-239-6200 or 800-432-7250 or visit www.clybournepark.com.

"The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," a revival of the famous folk opera with a revised book in a musical theater format and jazz-oriented musical arrangements, featuring Tony Award winner Audra Macdonald. At the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 W. 46th St. For tickets, call 212-239-6262 or 800-432-7780.

Music

The Martin Luther King Jr. concert series at Wingate Field (on Brooklyn Avenue between Rutland Road and Winthrop Street) presents Gospel Night at 7:30 p.m., with Cissy Houston (featuring a tribute to her daughter Whitney Houston) and Vickie Winans. For more info, visit www.brooklynabout.com.

The Seaside Summer Concert series, held next to MCU Park, presents Gladys Knight and the Commodores on Aug. 16. All shows are free! 572 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn. For more information, call 718-222-0600.

Mary J. Blige, D'Angelo and Melanie Fiona perform at Nikon Jones Beach on Sunday, Aug. 19 and Thursday, Aug. 23 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., 40 miles south of New York City. For more information, call 732-203-2500 or visit www.livenation.com for updates on the Arts Center shuttle.

New York City's premier summer jazz series presents their 15th summer season of world-class contemporary jazz, setting sail Wednesday nights through Aug. 29 .Two shows begin at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. aboard the beautiful Spirit of New York cruise ship, departing from Pier 61 in Chelsea Piers at West 23rd Street and the West Side Highway. Coming next are Norman Brown with Gerald Albright on Aug. 22 and Regina Bell on Aug. 29. For more information, go to www.marquees.concerts.com.

The 12th annual Jazz in the Valley is at its new home on the waterfront of Waryas Park on the scenic banks of the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Aug. 18-19 at noon (gates open at 11 a.m.). This year's festival features the Cookers, Billy Harper, George Cables, Billy Hart, David Weiss, Eddie Henderson, Cecil McBee and Craig Handy, We Four, Jimmy Cobb, Javon Jackson, Mulgrew Miller and Peter Washington, Lou Donaldson and Luther Francois on Saturday and Roy Ayers, Swiss Movement Revisited, Les McCann and Javon Jackson, the Helen Sung Trio and Zon del Barrio on Sunday. For more information, visit www.transartinc.com.